productivityhttps://www.turnkeylinux.org/taxonomy/term/113/0
enGetting into the zone - Crazy tips for maximum productivityhttps://www.turnkeylinux.org/blog/getting-into-the-zone
<p>The zone is a mysterious place familiar to deep thinkers. It is a mode
of consciousness in which you are almost superhumanly intelligent and
productive. Hard problems are solved in the zone. Getting into the zone
is not easy, but it pays off. The downside to the zone is that it raises
your expectations from yourself and others so much you will never be
satisfied by normal again. The upside is that you realize what you are
truly capable of.</p>
<p>In the zone, your mind is a blade, a ferocious form of violent, nearly
malicious intelligence.</p>
<p>Have you ever been in the zone? I think you'll like it there.</p>
<div class="section" id="minimizing-distractions">
<h2>Minimizing distractions</h2>
<p>Removing distractions is crucial. I get into the zone most often when
when I'm left totally alone for a few days. Most of my breakthroughs
happen in isolation.</p>
<ol class="arabic simple">
<li>I gather up all the research I'm going to need in one online sitting.
I'll need to have it all in one place for offline browsing.</li>
<li>I disconnect the Internet in such a way that I'll have to spend
energy to fix. If it's going to be a short session (e.g., a few
hours) I'll disconnect and hide away a crucial component of my home
network in a hard to reach place. Usually this is just the basement
which is relatively easy to reach. The longer I need to be isolated
the harder I am going to make it to undo my decision. Once or twice a
year I bury stuff in the woods by my house. That's when I need to do
some really serious thinking. Good times.</li>
<li>I remove the battery from my phone and throw it on top of a closet I
can't reach without a ladder.</li>
<li>I just start working. No excuses, no more delays. Writing down a
clear set of goals before I start.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<div class="section" id="feel-the-shape-of-it-in-your-mind">
<h2>Feel the shape of it in your mind</h2>
<p>Sometimes as I try to begin working, I get this blocking feeling that things
are not clear to me. I need to think about it to get a shape of the thing.</p>
<p>If during this difficult period, I'll lie down to &quot;think&quot; and usually
fall asleep. I don't really buy into the theory that my mind is getting
useful stuff done while I'm sleeping. More likely it's just an avoidance
reaction.</p>
<p>I've discovered that whenever I need to clear up my thoughts, I get my
best deep thinking done walking around in repetitive, rhythmic patterns,
a circle, back and forth, etc.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="breaks">
<h2>Breaks</h2>
<ul>
<li><p class="first">Try to log your breaks, and schedule when they end.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&quot;12:30 going to eat something. Back by 1:05&quot;</p>
</blockquote>
</li>
<li><p class="first">For energy: you eat small meals when you're hungry. Don't wait to eat
until your very hungry. You'll get tired after a large meal. After a
meal, bring a bottle of something sweet to your workspace. That way
you can keep your sugar levels up, which is important for being able
to concentrate.</p>
</li>
<li><p class="first">I take a watch with me, and keep time tabs so I don't turn a 30 minute
break into a 90 minute break.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="section" id="in-the-zone">
<h2>In the zone...</h2>
<p>Once I get into the flow of work, I mentally <em>lock</em> on to my goals and
the rest of the world goes away. When I finally get into the zone it
feels like I'm 5x more productive than usual. In one long sitting I can
get as much work done as a week of unfocused effort. Some problems
cannot be solved out of the zone.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="a-word-on-avoidance-psychology">
<h2>A word on avoidance psychology</h2>
<p>Some of these techniques sounds silly, by it works extremely well for
me, and if you try it, it might just work as well for you. The problem
with getting started on something difficult is your mind often plays
tricks on you - avoidance psychology and all that. From what I've read
this happens because of subconscious internal conflicts which you may
only be dimly aware of, or not at all.</p>
<p>For example, maybe you're subconsciously afraid of failure, or worse
yet, afraid of success...</p>
<p>By consciously isolating yourself from distractions, you don't let your
subconscious trick you into not getting any real work done.</p>
</div>
https://www.turnkeylinux.org/blog/getting-into-the-zone#commentsproductivitySun, 04 Oct 2015 14:27:04 +0000Liraz Siri2696 at https://www.turnkeylinux.orgKeeping track of timehttps://www.turnkeylinux.org/blog/time-tracking
<p>For the last few years I&#39;ve been using a nifty little program called <a href="https://mg.pov.lt/gtimelog/">gtimelog</a> to keep track of how much time I am actually working (and in a basic way on what), and how much time I am off work, whether it is for a meal, a personal phone call, random web surfing etc.</p>
<p>One thing I have found is that random non-work distractions can really add up at the end of the day, and they sort of creep up at you: &quot;It&#39;s 4pm, wow, did I really only work 1.5 hours so far? I better stay off Wikipedia and Hacker News if I want to get anything done tonight!&quot;.</p>
<p>I find keeping track of your time honestly makes it easier to sit down, resist distracting temptations (I.e., it&#39;s easier to see how much they really cost) and put in whatever minimum of hours you are committed to working.</p>
<p>Monitoring goals is a bit like flossing. You feel guilty when you go to the dentist and he asks you if you&#39;ve been flossing. You say no. He says, don&#39;t worry, you only have to floss the teeth you intend to keep. Similarly, you only have to monitor goals you intend to reach.</p>
<p>Monitoring how I use my time not only makes it easier for me to set and reach goals, it also makes it easier to feel good about a productive work session at the end of day, when I can see I have met my goal (or exceeded it).</p>
<p>Of course, keeping track of time isn&#39;t enough. Working smart (I.e., leverage, efficiency) is just as important if not more important than working a lot. Ultimately, it&#39;s not how much you work, but how much you accomplish.</p>
<p>But as a general rule of thumb I have found the following to be true:</p>
<pre>
productivity = quality of work * quantity of work
</pre>
https://www.turnkeylinux.org/blog/time-tracking#commentsproductivitySun, 04 Oct 2015 14:27:04 +0000Liraz Siri2703 at https://www.turnkeylinux.orgOn motivationhttps://www.turnkeylinux.org/blog/on-motivation
<p>Don't wish for the peak while you are still climbing the mountain.</p>
<p>This is going to take as long as it's going to take to do it at a
satisfactory level of quality.</p>
<p>Mental shortcuts and trying to rush through the motions will
significantly extend how long it takes to achieve this goal.</p>
<p>You have to focus on the next step, and enjoy taking it.</p>
<p>I suspect you are going to have miserable miserable time if you are
praying for it to finally be over.</p>
https://www.turnkeylinux.org/blog/on-motivation#commentsproductivityreflectionsSun, 04 Oct 2015 14:27:03 +0000Liraz Siri2706 at https://www.turnkeylinux.orgJust say no to multi-tasking: reflections on productivityhttps://www.turnkeylinux.org/blog/no-multitasking
<blockquote>
<p>Tafasta merubhe, lo tafasta.<br />
תפסת מרובה לא תפסת</p>
<p>- Ancient Hebrew proverb from the Talmud (Translation: Try to catch too much, catch nothing.)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I had an unsatisfying couple of days that got me thinking what I was doing wrong.</p>
<p>In retrospect, I realized I was jumping all over the place, trying to keep too many balls in the air. I was investigating the rsync algorithm, while trying to fix a TurnKey build problem, while researching distributed filesystems, etc.</p>
<p>This is problematic for two main reasons:</p>
<ol>
<li>All that context switching is terribly inefficient. Truth be told I wasn&#39;t really focused on any of the things I was doing. Also, jumping from one task to another meant it was easy to lose my sense of purpose and direction. It&#39;s very stimulating on one hand, but with so many things in your mind, nothing really settles down and solidifies. It&#39;s harder to reflect on each task. Everything is tangled up into incomplete fragments.</li>
<li>It&#39;s unsatisfying: even if I could maintain my efficiency, and do all the tasks in parallel, I would get all of my satisfaction rewards together at the end. I think this is one of the reasons that iterative programming is so effective - it keeps morale high by constantly rewarding the programmer with small, yet satisfying accomplishments. Going cold turkey and holding up for a big satisfying accomplishment at the end just isn&#39;t as psychologically engaging, especially if you are the kind of person that registers satisfaction briefly and then looks for the next challenge to attack.</li>
</ol>
<p>So here are my post-reflections resolutions:</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p>Try to stay focused on one thing at a time</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Iterate toward big goals, by setting a series of small but meaningful sub-goals/milestones.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Monitor the goals you want to keep (e.g., keep monitoring distractions and time spent)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Work smart, work hard, and have fun!</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Attitude matters. You should approach work not as:</p>
<ul>
<li>a burden on your shoulders</li>
<li>something to get over with</li>
<li>a test of eliteness/personal self-worth</li>
<li>an opportunity to fail</li>
</ul>
<p>But rather as a fun engaging playground of new things to explore and opportunities to play around and experiment (not make mistakes) in an open tolerant atmosphere.</p>
</li>
</ol>
https://www.turnkeylinux.org/blog/no-multitasking#commentsproductivityreflectionsSun, 04 Oct 2015 14:27:00 +0000Liraz Siri2710 at https://www.turnkeylinux.orgInsights on what makes me productivehttps://www.turnkeylinux.org/blog/what-makes-me-productive
<p>A few insights I&#39;ve had with regards to what makes me productive:</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p><strong>satisfying &quot;meaty&quot; workplans</strong>: I tend to be much more productive if I something on my table I can really sink my teeth into. The best example is an interesting development project with the high-level design sketched up and a road-map with deliverable testable milestones for me to bite through one mouthful at a time.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>context switching/batching</strong>: switching between various tasks negatively effects my productivity. On the other hand, if I focus on just one clearly defined task for enough time: magic happens.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>distractions/procrastination</strong>: every once in a while I feel somewhat overwhelmed by a problem to the point of loosing my confidence. In retrospect this usually happens when I bite off more than I can chew, or in other words, attack a problem that is too big at once instead of figuring out how to fracture it into a simpler, more approachable set of sub-problems.</p>
<p>This is routine, and if I just keep at it, the knot in my mind eventually unravels and after a slow start I will pick up momentum and make things happen.</p>
<p>The problem is that I find it very difficult to &quot;keep at it&quot; if any enticing distractions are available. Keeping track of how much time you spend on distractions helps, but I still find that collecting what I need and going offline makes it much easier to get things done. This way if something suddenly comes to mind, I won&#39;t go online and check it right than and there (resulting in an expensive context switch) but rather wait until later and batch everything,</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>quantity of work time</strong>: productivity = quality * quantity</p>
<p>Simply no way around it. I pace myself with small qualitative rewards. Reward X for goal Y. But I still commit to working at least 40 net hours a week. Thats 40 hours minimum of pure work. I don&#39;t count meals, breaks, private phone calls, etc.</p>
<p>I think thats a sustainable pace that stills allows one to have a healthy work/life balance, and I&#39;m not convinced its a good idea to try and average much higher then that on a long term basis, exceptions notwithstanding.</p>
<p>From my research, the de-facto standard in the rest of the industry is officially a bit higher: 50 hours a week but that includes time (meal/coffee/water breaks, web surfing, workplace socializing) I wouldn&#39;t count as &quot;net work hours&quot;, so I think my goal is roughly in line.</p>
<p>It is not unknown however for some people in the industry to routinely work 60 and even 80 hours a week, in particular during so called &quot;death marches&quot; to product release, often leading to rapid burnout and disillusionment. Personally I think death marches are a sign of bad management (I.e., insufficient resource allocation and poor planning), and eventually end up being counter-productive in the long run by increasing turnaround, reducing the quality and experience of your manpower and gradually erodes the productivity your existing manpower.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>How about you, what makes you productive?</p>
https://www.turnkeylinux.org/blog/what-makes-me-productive#commentsproductivityreflectionsMon, 25 May 2015 05:45:02 +0000Liraz Siri2744 at https://www.turnkeylinux.orgWhy I resist criticism (loss aversion and cognitive dissonance)https://www.turnkeylinux.org/blog/resisting-criticism
<p>
<em>Have you ever felt like your Ego is getting in the way of being productive?</em></p>
<p>
These last few days I&#39;ve been feeling I might be overly resistant to criticism with regards to some new stuff I&#39;ve been developing. So as an anti-dote I&#39;m writing this blog post to remind myself why that might be.</p>
<p>
In a nutshell, I think I tend to fall in love with my creations and let it bias my judgement.</p>
<p>
Remember, the more effort you put into something the more attachment you feel towards it. It&#39;s a well known cognitive effect. You need to make sure you compensate for that and don&#39;t let your ego get the better of you.</p>
<!--break-->
<p>
Which is not to say that others are always right with regards to their criticism, BUT at least they&#39;re thinking about it clearly. No bias because they&#39;re not as invested as I am and there is no threat to their self image/ego.</p>
<p>
As usual I went to Wikipedia to <strike>procrastinate</strike> research the issue. A couple of related articles I found:</p>
<ol>
<li>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_aversion">Loss aversion</a></li>
</ol>
<blockquote>
<p>
Once we have committed a lot of time or energy to a cause, it is nearly impossible to convince us that it is unworthy&quot; The real question is &quot;How bad do your losses have to be before you change course?</p>
</blockquote>
<ol start="2">
<li>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_Dissonance">Cognitive Dissonance</a></li>
</ol>
<p>
The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance by changing their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors, or by justifying or rationalizing them.</p>
<p>
(e.g., if you spend hours working on something it has to be worth it)</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
A powerful cause of dissonance is an idea in conflict with a fundamental element of the self-concept, such as &quot;I am a good person&quot; or &quot;I made the right decision&quot;. The anxiety that comes with the possibility of having made a bad decision can lead to rationalization, the tendency to create additional reasons or justifications to support one&#39;s choices. A person who just spent too much money on a new car might decide that the new vehicle is much less likely to break down than his or her old car. This belief may or may not be true, but it would reduce dissonance and make the person feel better. Dissonance can also lead to confirmation bias, the denial of disconfirming evidence, and other ego defense mechanisms.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
<strong>Does this ever happen to you too? What do you do to compensate?</strong></p>https://www.turnkeylinux.org/blog/resisting-criticism#commentscrticismegoproductivitypsychologyMon, 16 May 2011 05:09:53 +0000Liraz Siri1409 at https://www.turnkeylinux.org